St._Xavier_High_School_(Louisville)

St. Xavier High School (Louisville)

St. Xavier High School (Louisville)

Private, college-preparatory school in Louisville, Kentucky, United States


St. Xavier High School, colloquially known as St. X, is a Catholic all-boys, college preparatory Xaverian school in Louisville, Kentucky. It is located in the Archdiocese of Louisville. St. Xavier was founded in 1864 by Br. Paul Van Gerwen, C.F.X.[2]

Quick Facts Saint Xavier High School, Address ...

The school is located at 1609 Poplar Level Road and is the only school in Kentucky that has received the Blue Ribbon of Excellence Award five times, the most recent of which was awarded in 2023. St. Xavier has also renovated the school grounds with Project X, an initiative to raise $28 million for new academic and athletic facilities. In total Project X raised $29.1 million for the school.[3] In 2016, it was voted "Best Private High School" in the Louisville Magazine.[4]

Athletics

St. Xavier has the largest enrollment of boys among Kentucky high schools,[5][lower-alpha 1] and had been the only school in Kentucky to have won a state championship in every Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA)-sanctioned sport open to boys before the KHSAA began sponsoring coeducational championships in bass fishing and archery in the early 21st century. St. Xavier is one of the most successful athletic programs in Kentucky, having won 172 boys' state championships across 13 different KHSAA sports.[6] In 2005, St. Xavier was ranked #14 in "Sports Illustrated" Best High School Athletic Programs.[7] In the 2009 fall semester, Saint X won all four fall sports.[8][9] This is an unprecedented feat, taking home championships in soccer, football, cross country and golf.[10]

The annual football game with traditional local rival Trinity High School at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium is promoted by the schools as the most-attended annual regular-season high school football game in the country, typically drawing over 35,000 fans.[11] The largest crowd was 38,500 and the 2007 edition of the game had an announced attendance of 37,550.[12] Both teams have also met in the KHSAA Commonwealth Gridiron Bowl.[13][14] As of 2018, St. Xavier has 12 state championships, with the last one being in 2009.[15] In 2018, St. X announced that Kevin Wallace would be named new football head coach after Will Wolford announced that he would resign.[16][17] The swim team has won thirty-one consecutive state swimming championships, a national record for consecutive state championships out of any sport. They have beat the record from a high school in the Hawaiian Islands .[18] In addition to this, the swim team has captured 55 swimming state titles overall, which is a national record.[19] The golf team has won the McDonald's Tournament of Champions national event multiple times and sent numerous golfers on to NCAA Division I colleges such as Kentucky, Louisville, Alabama, Wake Forest, Clemson, Cornell, Tennessee, Florida, Florida State, Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Purdue. In 2016, St. X made a 3-peat by winning its 21st title and joined Louisville Male High School to win more than 2 more titles.[20]

As of 2018, the cross country team has won 6 of the last 7 State Championships,[21] and was nationally ranked in the top 15 in 2012–13. In 2012, the team which consisted of 6 future NCAA DI athletes, qualified for and competed in Nike Cross Nationals, the only consensus national championship competition in all of American High School athletics. The Tigers placed 14th. In 2016, the cross country team was ranked 13th at the nationals.[22] In addition, it won several titles along with Floyd Central at a Tiger Run meeting.[23] The soccer team has won eight state championships since 2000,[24] earning top 10 rankings in national polls while doing so.

The Tigers' football home of Brother Thomas More Page Stadium[25] also hosts the Bellarmine Knights sprint football team, representing nearby Bellarmine University. The university began play in sprint football, a form of American football played under standard college rules but with player weights restricted to 178 pounds (81 kg), in the 2022 season.[26]

Project X

Saint Xavier has done renovations with Project X. Project X first did renovations with a $3 million classroom.[27] Project X also resulted in a new tennis facility, complete with concessions and seating for 300 spectators, a new baseball stadium and a new 6,100 seat football stadium, complete with two private suites, an 8-lane rubberized track, new space for offices and locker rooms. The Tigers opened the new baseball complex on March 26, 2007, with a 10–0 win over Meade County, opened the football stadium on August 24, 2007,[28] with an 18–14 victory over Ballard and opened the 2,000 seat basketball arena with a 73–53 win over South Oldham on January 20, 2009.[29]

With the conclusion of Project X, St. Xavier now boasts some of the best high school athletic facilities in the nation including an indoor golf facility on campus.[30]

Notable alumni

Musicians

See also

Footnotes

  1. In the cited KHSAA enrollment listing, schools are organized from smallest enrollment to largest, without regard to whether a school is single-sex or coeducational. However, all listings include separate entries for enrollments of boys and girls.

References

  1. "Search for Private Schools – School Detail for St Xavier High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  2. Staff. "Saint Xavier High School Founder". Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved January 29, 2007.
  3. "Project X Facts". Archived from the original on April 2, 2010.
  4. Myers, Elizabeth (May 24, 2016). "Best of Louisville 2016 Finalists Announced". Louisville Magazine. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
  5. "Saint Xavier: Tradition Unequaled". Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  6. Patrick, Dick (September 21, 2005). "High school rivals are like family". USA Today. Retrieved July 6, 2014.
  7. Karell, Daniel (September 30, 2016). "Top five most-attended St. X-Trinity games". usatodayhhs.com. USA Today. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  8. "Flashback: St. Xavier vs. Trinity". WSTX Sports. October 2, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  9. Bittenbender, Steve. "title". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  10. Revel, Conor. "St. X swimming wins 30th straight state title and 54th overall". Catholic Sports Net. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  11. "St. Xavier cross country 13th at nationals". USA Today Hss. December 3, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  12. "Athletic Facilities". Saint Xavier High School. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  13. "Sprint football season preview: Knights ready for inaugural season" (Press release). Bellarmine Knights. September 15, 2022. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  14. "St. X wraps up $3 million classroom renovation project". Louisville Business Journal. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
  15. "St. X adding indoor golf facility on campus". USA TODAY High School Sports. June 24, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  16. Rucker, Rudy. "Rudy Rucker's Biography". rudyrucker.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  17. "Chris Burke Stats". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
  18. "Paul Byrd Stats". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  19. "Dicky Lyons". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  20. Daly, Michael (July 9, 2012). "Tom Cruise Was on Track to Become a Priest in His Youth". Newsweek. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  21. "About Jared". Vote Jared Bauman for State House. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  22. "Walker confirmed as federal judge for Western District of Kentucky". The Lane Report. October 29, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.

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